In the construction industry, it is known to build walls by installing factory-made insulated wall sections on the construction site. The wall sections typically include a plurality of vertically extending structural members, or wall studs, an upper frame member, or wall plate, and a lower frame member, or sill. The space between the structural members and frame members being filled with an insulating material.
It is also known that providing an high degree of thermal insulation and reducing air infiltration is desirable both in cold climates, to reduce the amount of energy required in heating, and in warm climates, to reduce the amount of energy required in air-conditioning. In highly insulated homes, fresh air is provided via an air exchanger in which cold air from outside is heated with exiting hot air from inside, or vice-versa, to reduce the amount of energy requirement associated with mass transfer. With the increasing awareness of the population concerning energy economy, the increasing costs of energy, and the evolution of insulation technology, these long standing principles have taken an increasing importance in today's construction industry. Many countries, states or provinces have devised norms that specify minimal insulation requirements of building components such as insulated walls. An example of such a norm is the Novoclimat norm of the Agence de l'efficacité énergétique in Quebec, a province of Canada.
While known thermally insulated wall panels have been satisfactory to a certain degree, there is still a need to provide improvements, including improvements to further increase the insulation capacity, or thermal resistance of insulated walls. It is also desired to enhance the ease of assembly, and/or to lower manufacturing costs of insulated wall panels. Walls having increased insulation can typically reduce the amount of energy used in heating a building in winter by reducing energy losses through the walls, or reduce the amount of energy used in air-conditioning during the summer. Easing assembly and lowering manufacturing costs can result in achieving a lower overall initial cost for the building.